Four Ways Predental Students Can Boost Clinical Hours and Skills During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Four Ways Predental Students Can Boost Clinical Hours and Skills During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Get Started Today  Call: 888-839-9997 e-mail: [email protected] 20 Minutes Free Consultation Advice from a Practicing Dentist By Dr. Katie D. COVID-19 has shut down dental offices, canceled volunteering events, and hindered previous paths of shadowing and service hours. What’s a pre-dent to do? A silver lining to the pandemic is the innovation and re-interpretation of what this experience is and how to obtain it. Here are four ways you can earn these hours and boost your skills from the comfort and safety of your own home. Virtual Shadowing: There are several players in the virtual shadowing world one year into the pandemic. Here are a few to check out: Instagram @dentalshadowers & @smileshadowers – these accounts are putting together weekly series of dental professionals sharing their stories. They are coordinating with general dentists, specialists, and dental staff members. There are also helpful posts with tips and insight into dentistry. Prehealthshadowing.com is a non-profit organization comprised of a diverse structure of young adults. They have Zoom meetings arranged with dental professionals who will discuss their dental experiences from application to current work environment. These sessions are also recorded and available on YouTube. They offer a Certificate of Verification following completion of a session. The live meetings allow for Q&A and interaction with other interested viewers, networking, and social support. Within their program, they invite interested viewers to contact them for other volunteer opportunities some as research and grant writing. This is a fantastic opportunity to log some volunteer hours as well as shadowing time. Volunteering: With the closure and limited entry available to many dental clinics, your ability to directly...
Getting Dental Experience as a Predental Student

Getting Dental Experience as a Predental Student

Get Started Today Call: 888-839-9997 e-mail: [email protected] 20 Minutes Free Consultation   Tips from a Recent Dental School Graduate By Dr. Natalie P As with any career, if you are interested in dentistry, it is most likely a good idea to shadow or observe what the profession entails before you apply.  Below are several ways that you can gain experience in the dental field as well as questions that you may want to ask during your experience. Volunteer at a dental office If you have a dentist that you have been seeing for several years, one of the easiest ways to get an idea of what goes on in a dental practice is to ask them if it is ok to shadow them for a few days. There is value in shadowing a dentist to inquire about both the business aspect of dentistry as well as the procedural aspect. How many people comprise the business, are there associates, how many hygienists, assistants, front desk staff make up the team? What are the various procedures that are conducted on a daily basis and what procedures do they refer to specialists? Is there a good collaboration with the lab for esthetic cases and what lab work is done by the dentist or assistant? Depending on the state, what are the job duties of the assistants? Depending on the state and the rapport that you have with the person you are shadowing, they may allow you to assist on several procedures which would further allow you to get an idea of what is entailed in the field of dentistry. Attend a dental...